There are millions of farm animals in Quebec. They surround us and feed us and yet we know very little about their living conditions. After collecting testimonies from producers, animal rights defenders and experts, The duty invites you to discover the life cycle of Quebec’s main farm animals, from their birth to the slaughterhouse, as well as the resulting concerns regarding animal welfare. Note that all the practices mentioned are authorized by the codes of practice governing animal husbandry in Canada. Today: the legislative framework.
The Animal Welfare and Safety Act, passed by Quebec in 2015, prohibits anyone from compromising the welfare of an animal or causing it distress. But these provisions of the law do not apply to farm animals, which number in the tens of millions in the province, as long as they are treated under “generally recognized rules”. An exemption which, according to some, leaves the way open to the “inherent cruelty” of the intensive farming method. But which allows, for others, to feed the population and to offer increased protection deemed normal to pets.
For mee Alain Roy, professor of animal rights at the University of Montreal, the law does not offer “protection to the animal for what it really is, but rather protection to the animal according to the purpose that we give it”, that is to say, to be intended for consumption or to be a pet. “As long as it’s done within the standardized process, we don’t take into account the suffering,” he laments.
A person who has a pig as a pet could thus be prosecuted if they cut off its tail. But producers who dock their pigs’ tails are acting within the law, as it is a common and accepted practice in the pork industry.
A distinction between pets and farm animals which, in general, does not upset the DD Caroline Kilsdonk, veterinarian specializing in bioethics. “I personally believe that it is normal that we have higher requirements for pets. On the other hand, do we need to improve certain practices [dans l’élevage des] farm animals ? Yes. »
Codes of practice
The “generally accepted rules” referred to in the Act are set out in codes of practice developed by the National Farm Animal Care Council, a Canadian organization. These codes, which each deal with an animal species, are drafted by committees made up of producers, processors, transporters, veterinarians, civil servants and animal rights defenders. Representatives of the livestock industry generally occupy more than half of the seats.
“It means that it is essentially the industry that defines what is standard practice, therefore what is legal or not”, denounces Me Sophie Gaillard, Acting Executive Director of the Montreal SPCA. A “self-regulation” that would be unacceptable in other sectors, she believes. “We would never leave it to the oil industry to decide for itself what constitutes too much pollution or not. It would be an abdication of government responsibilities, but that is what we are doing for livestock in Quebec. »
A vision nuanced by Jamie Dallaire, a professor specializing in animal behavior and well-being in the Department of Animal Sciences at Université Laval, who has already participated as an expert in the process of modifying a code. Even if the opinion of the producers weighs more in the balance here than in Europe – where politicians and experts are at the heart of the decision-making process – this way of operating has certain advantages, he believes.
“Sometimes, the researchers, we come up with ideas that we propose and that we want to insert into the codes, but we are not connected to the reality on the ground like the producers are”, he says, emphasizing that committee decisions are made by consensus and not by majority vote. “So everyone, at the end of the day, puts a little water in their wine. »
Not enshrined in law
Nothing in the Act forces producers to adhere to codes of practice that govern animal husbandry. However, several producer associations make adherence to codes of practice mandatory for their members.
For now, the Legault government does not intend to include such an obligation in Quebec legislation. Asked about the issue, Emmanuelle Ducharme, the press attaché for the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, André Lamontagne, indicated that the Animal Welfare and Safety Act — which recognizes that animals are sentient beings with biological imperatives, whereas they were previously considered chattels — is still “relatively recent”.
“All companies trading or breeding animals have a responsibility for means and results to comply with the law, but also a moral and societal obligation to operate in an ethical manner”, she replied to the To have to. On the sidelines of the Council of Ministers, Wednesday, in Quebec, Minister Lamontagne mentioned to the To have to that “there is a lot of work that will continue to be done [concernant] law enforcement” and that “seven years [depuis l’entrée en vigueur de la Loi]that may seem like a lot, but it’s not that much”.
He nevertheless added that there is no “double standard”, in his eyes, between the treatment of pets and that of farm animals.
Consumers
For several years now, the issue of animal welfare seems to have raised the awareness of an ever larger segment of the population. A societal concern which, for sure, influences industry practices, believes veterinarian Caroline Kilsdonk. “Producers are sensitive to what consumers say. But are the changes occurring at the speed that consumers would like? Surely not. »
Consumers thus have a lever in their hands, but also a responsibility, underlines Sophie Gaillard. “Every day, we make consumer choices that have an impact on animals,” she says. There is therefore reason to ask whether, to the extent of their means, consumers should not agree to pay more for their meat to ensure better animal welfare.